03-11-2018 BLUES:MiX # 33 blues songs from the BLUES circle 1962-1972

03-11-2018 BLUES:MiX # 33 blues songs from the BLUES circle 1962-1972 # Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup, Junior Wells, Sonny Boy Williamson II, The Rolling Stones, Long John Baldry, John Hammond, Buddy Guy, Albert King, Little Milton, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, John Lee Hooker, Van Morrison

B L U E S   M U S I C

LISTEN THE PLAYLIST ON DEEZER.COM

BLUES_circle The player always plays the latest playlist tracks. / A lejátszó mindig a legújabb playlist számait játssza. 

1962-1972

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (also known as "Pop" Crudup) (August 24, 1905 – March 28, 1976) was a delta blues singer and guitarist. He is best known outside blues circles for writing songs later covered by Elvis Presley (and since covered by dozens of other artists)...
Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup
If I Get Lucky (Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup) 3:05
Rock Me Mama (Or Mamma) (Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup) 2:58
from The Definitive Collection 1941-62, Vol. 1

Regarded as the last of the great Chicago harmonica players, he was an impressive stylist and a leading practitioner of postwar blues harmonica. He was one bad dude, strutting across the stage like a harp-toting gangster, mesmerizing the crowd with his tough-guy antics and rib-sticking Chicago blues attack. Amazingly, Junior Wells kept at precisely this sort of thing for over 40 years; he was an active performer from the dawn of the '50s until his death in the late '90s.
Junior Wells
Two Headed Woman (Willie Dixon / Junior Wells) 2:41
I Could Cry (Junior Wells) 3:10
So Tired (Junior Wells) 2:13
from Calling All Blues - The Chief, Profile & USA Recordings 1957-1963
Following his recorded debut as a leader for States Records, Junior Wells signed with Mel London, producing a number of sides for the producer's Chief and Profile imprints. Perhaps best-known for his spectacular harmonica playing, this period, documented on Calling All Blues, saw Wells emerging as an outstanding vocalist as well. A consummate performer with a firm grasp of the range of emotions the music can produce, Wells wrings every drop of feeling out of the lyrics. The singer growls, shouts, howls, moans across these 24 tracks...

Highly-regarded blues singer and harmonica player, an unpredictable character, and a major figure of Chicago blues. Sonny Boy Williamson was, in many ways, the ultimate blues legend. By the time of his death in 1965, he had been around long enough to have played with Robert Johnson at the start of his career and Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Robbie Robertson at the end of it. In between, he drank a lot of whiskey, hoboed around the country, had a successful radio show for 15 years, toured Europe to great acclaim and simply wrote, played and sang some of the greatest blues ever etched into black phonograph records. 
Sonny Boy Williamson II 
Help Me (Sonny Boy Williamson II) 3:10
Nine Below Zero (Sonny Boy Williamson II) 3:31
Trying to Get Back on My Feet (Sonny Boy Williamson II) 2:09
Close to Me (Willie Dixon) 3:03
from More Real Folk Blues Rec: 1960-1964 (1967)
His delivery was sly, evil and world-weary, while his harp-playing was full of short, rhythmic bursts one minute and powerful, impassioned blowing the next. His songs were chock-full of mordant wit, with largely autobiographical lyrics that hold up to the scrutiny of the printed page. Though he took his namesake from another well-known harmonica player, no one really sounded like him.

1964 - Sonny Boy Williamson II and club compère Bob Wooler
at the Cavern Club, Liverpool, UK,  Photographer Peter Kaye

The premier British rock band for over half a century, creators of the sound and style imitated by countless groups. 
The Rolling Stones
Everybody Needs Somebody to Love  (Bert Berns / Solomon Burke / Jerry Wexler) 2:58
What a Shame  (Mick Jagger / Keith Richards) 3:05
Little Red Rooster  (Chester Burnett / Willie Dixon) 3:05
from The Rolling Stones, Now! 1965
Although their third American album was patched together (in the usual British Invasion tradition) from a variety of sources, it's their best early R&B-oriented effort. Most of the Stones' early albums suffer from three or four very weak cuts; Now! is almost uniformly strong start-to-finish, the emphasis on some of their blackest material...

The Rolling Stones - Every parents nightmare in America.

R&B-and-blues drenched British pop singer of the 1960s of imposing stature. 
Long John Baldry
Got My Mojo Working 3:12
Hoochie Coochie 3:49
Goin' Down Slow 3:57
from Looking At Long John Baldry (The UA Years 1964-1966)
Like Cliff Richard, Chris Farlowe, Slade, Blur, and eel pie, Long John Baldry is one of those peculiarly British phenomena that doggedly resists American translation. As a historical figure, he has undeniable importance. When he began singing as a teenager in the 1950s, he was one of the first British vocalists to perform folk and blues music. In the early '60s, he sang in the band of British blues godfather Alexis Korner, Blues Incorporated, which also served as a starting point for future rock stars Mick Jagger, Jack Bruce, and others.

Rod Stewart, Long John Baldry, Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger

One of the greatest performers of traditional blues, acoustic or electric. John Hammond, Jr. is one of a handful of white blues musicians who was on the scene at the beginning of the first blues renaissance of the mid-'60s. That revival, brought on by renewed interest in folk music around the U.S., brought about career boosts for many of the great classic blues players, including Mississippi John Hurt, Rev. Gary Davis, and Skip James. Some critics have described Hammond as a white Robert Johnson, and Hammond does justice to classic blues by combining powerful guitar and harmonica playing with expressive vocals and a dignified stage presence. 
John Hammond
I Wish You Would (Billy Boy Arnold) 3:00
I Can Tell (Ellas McDaniel / Samuel F. Smith) 3:24
Five Long Years (John Lee Hooker) 3:58
from I Can Tell 1967
I Can Tell boasts an all-star backing band of rock & roll stars, featuring everyone from Bill Wyman to Robbie Robertson. John Hammond leads the band through a set of Chicago blues standards, reaching deep into the catalogs of Willie Dixon, Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, and many others. Although the performances can occasionally sound too studied, the album is by and large an unadulterated delight -- the affection Hammond and his band have for the material is quite clear.

John Hammond Jr July 1964 Newport by John Rudoff

Contender for the title of greatest blues guitarist ever, with a fiery, screechy, super-quick technique that influenced countless followers. Buddy Guy is one of the most celebrated blues guitarists of his generation (arguably the most celebrated), possessing a sound and style that embodied the traditions of classic Chicago blues while also embracing the fire and flash of rock & roll.
Buddy Guy
I Got My Eyes on You (Willie Dixon / Buddy Guy) 4:00
Fever (Eddie Cooley / John Davenport) 6:41
You Were Wrong (Buddy Guy) 4:46
from This Is Buddy Guy! 1968
Borrowing from the energy of a still-vibrant British blues invasion, Guy pumps up the rock and soul on this scorching live recording.

One of the most important post-war blues guitarists, renowned for his massive tone and unique way of squeezing bends out of a guitar string. Albert King is truly a "King of the Blues," although he doesn't hold that title (B.B. does). Along with B.B. and Freddie King, Albert King is one of the major influences on blues and rock guitar players. Without him, modern guitar music would not sound as it does -- his style has influenced both black and white blues players from Otis Rush and Robert Cray to Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Albert King
Hound Dog (Jerry Leiber / Mike Stoller) 4:03
Heartbreak Hotel (Mae Boren Axton / Tommy Durden / Elvis Presley) 6:06
Love Me Tender (Vera Matson / Elvis Presley) 5:20
from Blues For Elvis: King Does The King's Things 1969
Blues for Elvis - King Does the King's Things is the fifth studio album by Albert King. The songs in this album are versions of songs previously recorded by Elvis Presley. On the album sleeve there is a review by Albert Goldman, Music Critic of LIFE Magazine, who says, among other things "For the first time on record, the King of Blues is meeting the King of Rock." and "...you're gonna love every minute of this musical feast fit for kings.".

Soul/blues singer whose style is characterized by a gritty, impassioned vocal style and precise, textured guitar playing. He may not be a household name, but die-hard blues fans know Little Milton as a superb all-around electric bluesman -- a soulful singer, an evocative guitarist, an accomplished songwriter, and a skillful bandleader. He's often compared to the legendary B.B. King -- as well as Bobby "Blue" Bland -- for the way his signature style combines soul, blues, and R&B, a mixture that helped make him one of the biggest-selling bluesmen of the '60s (even if he's not as well-remembered as King).
Little Milton
If Walls Could Talk (Bobby Miller) 3:09
Blues Get off My Shoulder (Bobby Parker / Robert Parker) 3:12
I Play Dirty (Pearl Woods) 2:27
from If Walls Could Talk 1970
On If Walls Could Talk, Little Milton continues to fuse blues with soul -- if anything, the album leans toward soul more than blues. Supported by a band with a thick, wailing horn section, Little Milton sings and plays with power. Though there a couple of wonderful solos, the focus of the record is on the songs, which all sound terrific, thanks to Milton's compassionate vocals.

With a style honed in the gritty blues bars of Chicago's south side, the Butterfield Blues Band was instrumental in bringing the sound of authentic Chicago blues to a young white audience in the mid-'60s, and although the band wasn't a particularly huge commercial success, its influence has been enduring and pervasive.
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Play On (Paul Butterfield / John Elefante / Kerry Livgren) 3:34
Night Child (Paul Butterfield / Brother Gene Dinwiddie / Ted Harris / Rod Hicks / Oscar Peterson) 4:26
Drowned in My Own Tears (Henry Glover) 5:18
from Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin' 1971
Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin' is the last of the Butterfield Blues Band's studio recordings with Elektra. Again we see a change in the group's lineup, most notably with guitarist Buzzy Feiten out and Ralph Walsh in. The post-Bloomfield Butterfield Blues Band studio efforts saw a high turnover in the musicians surrounding Butterfield and the releases reflect this fact. The direction on Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin' is a distinct departure from their radio-friendly predecessor, Keep On Moving. With longer soloing and instrumental tracks, this Elektra recording brings back blues currents that were lacking in their previous album and better combines vocals and instrumentation.

The most elemental of the electric blues giants, one of few to both inspire and draw from rock & roll idols. He was beloved worldwide as the king of the endless boogie, a genuine blues superstar whose droning, hypnotic one-chord grooves were at once both ultra-primitive and timeless. But John Lee Hooker recorded in a great many more styles than that over a career that stretched across more than half a century.

John Lee Hooker 

Bumble Bee Blues (John Lee Hooker) 4:13

Country Boy (John Lee Hooker) 6:59

Never Get Out of These Blues Alive feat. Van Morrison (John Lee Hooker) 10:16

from Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive 1972

Following the legendary bluesman's popular collaboration with Canned Heat, this album continues his work with mostly younger musicians and predates similar projects The Healer and Mr. Lucky by about 20 years. Van Morrison spans the gap by appearing on this 1972 release and Mr. Lucky. Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite, and even Steve Miller contribute here. Jazz violinist Michael White helps "Boogie With the Hook" take off and adds a mournful touch to the harrowing "T.B. Sheets," which is much more restrained here than on the earlier debut release by Morrison.

Van Morrison and John Lee Hooker